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Finland Spring Birding at Oulu and Kuusamo

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Finland Spring Birding at Oulu and Kuusamo Finland Spring Birding at Oulu and Kuusamo 26-30 May 2019 David Karr & Mikko Pyhälä The view from top of Valtavaara Hill, Kuusamo Synopsis: A four-day birding excursion to northern (sub-Arctic) Finland. The private visit was designed to connect with two eight-hour organized tours offered by the Finnish company, Finnature at Oulu (27 May) and at Kuusamo (30 May). All target species were seen, with the notable exception of Little Bunting, Emberiza pusilla which had been reported around Kuusamo at the time of the visit. Highlights of birds seen included: lekking Capercaillie and Black Grouse, Willow Ptarmigan, Hazel Grouse, Great Grey, Boreal (Tengmalm’s), Eurasian Pygmy, Ural and Northern Hawk owls, Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker, Siberian Tit, Red-flanked Bluetail, Wryneck and Rustic Bunting. The long days of late spring (almost 24-hour sunlight) in the high latitude and the cooler than average temperatures (5-10°C) made for a brisk and invigorating birding experience. Sunday, 26 May: I met my Finnish companion and birding comrade, Mikko Pyhälä at Helsinki’s Vantaa Airport for our one-hour flight north to Oulu (Finnair). At Oulu, we collected our pre-booked rental car and drove the short distance to the birder-friendly Airport Hotel (highly recommended). We spent the rest of the afternoon and into the evening at the wetlands located directly behind the hotel (there is a convenient and strategically placed viewing platform set up for birders only 10 minutes’ walk away). Mikko checking out the local (bird) talent at the wetland observatory Good birds seen here: breeding-plumaged Black-tailed Godwit and lekking Ruff; Common Snipe (overhead display flights); Whooper Swan, Greylag Goose, Garganey, Shelduck, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Greenshank, Ringed Plover; and singing Sedge Warbler and Reed Bunting. We called it quits at 20:00 in order to prepare for our 03:00 start with Finnature the next morning. Monday, 27 May: We met our Finnature guide, Pekka, at the arranged time of 03:00 in the hotel carpark. Our companions for the tour were Chris (UK) and Bernard (Belgium). The tour had been booked on-line several weeks ahead of our visit. The tour was primarily focused on seeing the northern European owls and we lost no time in driving to several different nesting owl sites known to the Finnature team around Oulu in search of our quarry. The location of the sites is a closely guarded secret of the tour company. First up was a smart Eurasian Pygmy Owl, Glaucidium p. passerinum which obligingly answered a short burst of playback at around 03:45am: The Pygmy Owl allowed prolonged views (15 minutes) from its perch atop a tall conifer. We drove 30 minutes to another site, catching fleeting views of a Black Grouse, Lyrurus t. tetrix along the way. Here, attracted by playback, was also a highly responsive Eurasian Wryneck, Jynx torquilla. But the main target was a nesting Great Grey Owl, Strix nebulosa, of which we heard several calls of the male and observed the female for some 15 minutes; she was seemingly unmoved by our presence and continued to brood on her nest: The huge nest of the Great Grey Owl, a truly impressive structure We then drove a good distance to a nesting area for Ural Owl, Strix u. uralensis. Here, while the nest was not seen, we quickly got onto a sentinel male, who may have been guarding the area. (And for myself, having experienced an attack by a Ural Owl in Hungary, was not keen to intrude further into its nesting territory): Like the previous owls, the (male) bird seemed quite unfazed by our presence and allowed prolonged and relatively, (if not a little menacingly), close views. Our final stop on the tour was a known nesting site of Boreal (Tengmalm’s) Owl, Aegolius f. funereus. Here, we were out of luck as the bird refused to show, despite the fact that we could discern the cheeping of chicks inside the nest box. The tour concluded at 11:00am and we were promptly delivered back to our hotel. Our Oulu birding team, Chris, Pekka, Bernard and Mikko at the Boreal Owl site Bidding farewell to Pekka, Chris and Bernard, Mikko and I decided to drive to the coast at Oulunsalo to where a small flock of Steller’s Eider, Polysticta stelleri, had been reported by a local birder the afternoon before. Alas, we were out of luck, observing only a nesting colony of Black-headed Gulls, some Herring Gull and many of the more common oceanic species: Cormorant, Goosander, Red- breasted Merganser, and Arctic and Common Terns. On a whimsy, we took the (free) ferry over to Hailuoto Island to visit a wetland reserve with a wildlife viewing tower. At a lake inside the reserve, we saw: Little Gull, Common Crane, Grus grus, Marsh Harrier and some Goldeneye, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, and Mallard. Red-breasted Merganser in flight We then drove into Oulu Town for an early (and delicious) dinner at the local Greek restaurant, finishing just in time to make our date with a local manager of a bird hide managed by Finnature just outside of Oulu. The plan here was to observe Eurasian Eagle Owl, Bubo bubo, at a feeding site close by the hide. The manager brought in dead mice and chicken scraps to entice the beast and left us to our fate…. Our hide manager, setting out the bait for the local Eagle Owl – 19:00hrs Unfortunately, despite a long and steadfast five-hour wait (battling fatigue), we gave up at midnight as the dawn broke again and the owl failed to show. It was fascinating however to observe the ‘white night’ and we saw several Woodcock in flight and a single male Bullfinch that came to a seed feeder close to the hide. (Finnature later kindly offered us another ‘free’ opportunity to re-visit the hide at a later date for the owl). We finally turned in at our hotel at around 1am…it had been a very long day. Tuesday, 28 May: We departed Oulu at 07:00 for the 2.5 hour road trip northeast to Kuusamo (218kms on route 20). En route, we stopped at Syöte National Park where several reports had been received of the presence of Red-flanked Bluetail. We walked several of the trails for 2 hours, but failed to connect with our target… The park walks however, were splendid and we had remnant snow drifts apparent at many points. Here the only birds of any note were Willow Warbler, Fieldfare, Chaffinch, Crossbill and Song Thrush. Several signs advertising the presence of Capercaillie also failed to produce the promised bird… We arrived at Kuusamo in the early afternoon and checked into our hotel, Kuusamon Tropiiki, located 4kms north of the town on the road to Ruka. We spent the rest of the day visiting the Valtavaara Mountain Park (approximately a 20-minute drive north). The bird action was slow, but we did connect with a few new species: Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Redwing, Song and Mistle Thrush, Brambling and Goldcrest. We were a little despondent not to even hear a peep from our much-wanted Bluetail. A shy Dunnock gave brief views in the low strata of the forest Wednesday, 29 May: Rainfall and high winds put a dampener on most of our day with generally poor birding conditions. However, the day began splendidly after we left our hotel at 03:00 to drive several of the unsealed roads to the southeast of Kuusamo that had been recommended by a friend of Mikko, the legendary nature photographer, Hannu Hautala. Indeed, within minutes of driving out of town, we came face-to-face with a female Western Capercaillie, Tetrao urogallus, standing in the middle of the road (a lifer for me). As the misty morning wore on, we were to encounter two male Capercaillie at different points, including one in full testosterone-fuelled display: Other birds were by the roadside, presumably ingesting gravel as an aid to digestion of their exclusive pine needle diet: We were further rewarded with brilliant views of a flock of lekking Black Grouse, Lyrurus tetrix, (around a dozen) which put on a great display (despite the fog and misty conditions): After lunch, we stopped by a lake opposite the Kuusamo fishing lure factory, which held a good number of hunting Little Gull, Hydrocoloeus minutus, a largely insectivorous species and a smart liveried bird if there was one: We also took tome to drive east of Kuusamo to visit farming lands and ploughed fields with the hope of seeing hunting Short-eared Owls. While this did not eventuate, we felt fortunate to connect with a lone Hawk Owl and White-tailed Eagle, Haliaeetus albicilla. Other new species were: Whinchat, a migratory flock of Wheatear, Eurasian Curlew and Lapwing. In a river, we had a smart-looking pair of Red-necked Grebe, Podiceps grisegena: Later, we decided to return to the Kontainen Mountain parking place and Valtavaara Hill with the hope of finally connecting with the Bluetail. This time, we climbed to the top of the mountain, but the prevailing wet weather conditions made birding very difficult. On our way down, we did however, meet a small family party of Siberian Jay, Perisoreus infaustus, which comprised an adult and several young: We ended the day with delicious Finnish meal at Mestari Restaurant in the centre of Kuusamo (recommended). The menu included local cheeses, reindeer salami and a filet of ‘white fish’ and fresh local vegetables. I was pleased to note several Australian reds on the wine list which we enjoyed with the meal.
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